justal
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 posted on 20-10-2002 at 16:27 |
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Mad E's in the IOM
We arrived on the Isle of Man on Friday morning, but there was no wind on Friday or yesterday, but it certainly arrived today.
I got to the beach at Castletown at around 10.00am to find a decent 18 knot wind blowing. There were two people out kite-surfing which
was a bit dodgy considering the fact that the beach is at the end of Ronaldsway Airport!!! Apparently the airport police usually come
out and move them on, but the seemed to get away with it today as the wind was Easterly so the planes were using a different runway.
I rigged a 5.7m sail and my Hifly and went out on the choppy water. The 5.7m was fine, there was no swell, the chop was pretty closely
spaced but I had an OK sail. After a while, the wind started to pick up and a few other people came out on 5.0m and 4.5m sails.
After another hour or so I decided to change down too and rigged my 5.0m. The chop had now got a bit bigger which livened things up a
bit and allowed a few nice chop hops. The wind continued to pick up and in the end I was overpowered with the 5.0m half the time.
Dave from the local shop then came out and started forward looping and aerial gybing all over the place!!!
All in all a good sail in decent conditions. Some waves would have been nice, but you can't have it all. It was also pretty cold out
there. The water was OK, but the air temperature was cold. I had to wear my boots for the first time this year and my hands were pretty
cold.
Anyone else been out this weekend??
Al.
URL: Pixelwave Design - Website Design Wales
Shop: Website Templates
Personal Weblog: A Simple Life of Luxury in West Wales
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paul
A Force-of-Nature **  
Member #: 5 Posts 445
Registered: 24-7-2002 Member Is Offline Mood: Well Chuffed
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| posted on 20-10-2002 at 19:31 |
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sunday was good down here in cornwall, 4.5 weather with some reasonable waves at Marazion, I'll stick more in my diary along with some
pics tomorrow (monday) on my web site
Home Page
http://www.nationalwindsurfingweek.org
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Ian
Hot shot 
Member #: 29 Posts 64
Registered: 4-8-2002 Location: Land Locked Member Is Offline Mood: Chilled as hell
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 posted on 21-10-2002 at 20:50 |
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sUNDAY-WHAT A DAY!!!!
What a day Sunday turned out to be...Spent the weekend down at Borth with Stevebus & Ann. Saturday nothing as per forecast but was
a great day for chillin..
Sunday the forecast proved to be wrong from Friday anyway. We got up and checked out the wind at 9.30am it was Easterly force3-4 sat
around waiting for it to pick up the guys fm boardwise pitched up and i think went down to the cafe came back stood around talked alot
and then went home....(a good choice we think now) We went for a walk down the beach and found somebody sailing from Aberdovey so we
decided to go around to the esturay and sail from there...when we got there the wind had picked up to force 5 gusting force 6...5mins
later when the wind picked up more it was F6 gusting F7 within 10mins it was gusting F8.....and rocking both buses... time to make safety retreat never seen it like that down there that bad
(anybody got a hankerchief for next time?) wicked but best not to got out especially after reading Al's account the other day....
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justal
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| posted on 22-10-2002 at 19:13 |
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So you didn't actually get in then Ian??...You should have at least given it a go. Easterlies and NE are always mad in the estuary, but
you can't go too far wrong as the wind just and mad chop just throws you back onto the beach!!
NE-E winds can get pretty mad there though. I've been out before now nicely powered up with a 5m sail and wave board in a NE (about 25
knots) while there wasn't even 10 knots in Borth!!...Its worth knowing. But as you've found out, it can go completely ballistic to the
extent of the sand stripping paint off your van!! 
Al.
URL: Pixelwave Design - Website Design Wales
Shop: Website Templates
Personal Weblog: A Simple Life of Luxury in West Wales
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Pixelwave Web Design.
justal@forces-of-nature.co.uk